Lovely Links
No spine-tingling stories to share today, my lovelies, just some random thoughts, a page ripped from my sketchbook and some lovely, lovely links.
I don't think I've mentioned it here yet, but the Handsome Guy and I are going to NYC for the first time ever this June and I'm tremendously juiced at the prospect. The Handsome Guy is attending a broadcast design convention and whilst he is thus engaged, I shall be left to my own devices. I've already picked my way through The Met's virtual museum and picked the exact works and exhibits I most want to see and have been pouring over all manner of maps and legends, trying to chart my four-day adventure.
And to my vast and never-ending delight, this morning's electronic edition of the NY Times announced what promises to be a spectacular exhibit of Maurice Sendak at the Jewish Museum which runs through to August. Oh, feasting eyes! Try this link: Maurice Sendak I'm not sure if you'll be able to open it. You might have to subscribe to the NY Times to view it, but it's totally worth the bother of signing up (it's free) . There's a slide show featuring some work of his with which I wasn't familiar, as well as some old faves.
Plotting my Big Apple Adventures is but one enchanting distraction whistling 'bout me brain these days. Having given up almost entirely on Fotolog, I've recently opened an account at Flickr in anticipation of all the blossomy goodness that keeps threatening to burst out across my landscape (I'll post the url to my photostream once I actually upload something worth viewing) As if those weren't distracting enough, I've also recently started lurking around the Drawing Board gawking at the freakishly proportioned girly girls that are a Drawing Board staple, but also at some really lovely life drawings. I haven't posted anything there yet and I don't know that I ever actually will, but there are some valuable drawing tips to be gleaned and it does spark in me the urgent desire to draw which is always a good thing. I mean, I already draw practically every day, but right now, the majority of that drawing time is spent on commissioned illustration and not just drawing for the the joy of it. And while I love what I do and most days can't get over the fact that I'm actually paid to do this, there are times when I just want to let loose and do something all my own.
To that end, here's a page of animals from my sketchbook. They're not entirely realistic and there's no larger concept behind it. It's just about playing with shape and line work. I usually have a page that I sort of plug away at five or ten minutes at a time over the course of a week or two when I'm on the phone, for instance, or before bed and sometimes as a sort of warm-up before working on 'real' illustrations. This is one of those:
Jill is one of those rare jems. Jill's Livingroom her delicious blog is so homey and sun-filled, it makes you feel like just that: you're plopped on the comfy couch in Jill's Livingroom being entertained by a school of wind-up fish, admiring eyeshadow dusted Easter eggs and her burgeoning seedlings and howling at the antics of her young sons and their endlessly ingenious torture of one much-frozen Han Solo figurine. Pop by and say hi. I can promise you you'll be back again and again.
Paula appeared in my comments one afternoon and immediately captured my attention with her whimsical illustrations bursting with quirks and color. What I like best about Paula's blog is the way she talks about the process of illustration. I find that really difficult to articulate myself, but Paula does it effortlessly and you feel like you're actually in her studio, munching coffee cake and spilling crumbs all over, watching her work and spying on the mysterious orange, pole dancing cat she claims she is NOT obsessed with.
And last, but not least there is Martha of Naive Knitting . I'm not overstating it when I say the scope and breadth of Martha's creativity leaves me breathless. The things she makes! Long-toed bears with furrowed brows and the most bearish expressions, boxy chihuahuas of the most comical proportions, beautifully jointed pink elephants, exquisitely delicate scarves as pale and pink as the interior of a seashell, and the most amazing paper quilts. I must click to her page ten times a day now, and I'm always stunned and awed. Go quick, go now! Be stunned and undone by her artistry. And keep digging until you find the little movie about her collection of mugshots. And don't forget to click through her links... this is a woman of astounding taste. You'll love every link.
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